College Football Countdown: No. 57 Temple

Iliana Limon, Orlando Sentinel

The Orlando Sentinel has ranked all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in the country. We’ll take a closer look at a new team daily, counting backward from No. 120 to our projected No. 1 team. We will not be including the four teams the NCAA lists as still reclassifying to the Football Bowl Subdivision level.

Look back: Steve Addazio took over as Temple’s new coach in 2011 and continued previous coach Al Golden’s work resurrecting the long suffering Owls program. Addazio led Temple to its first bowl win since 1979.

The Owls opened the season with a 42-7 win over FCS rival Villanova and a 41-3 win at Akron. The team then lost 14-10 to Penn State, beat Maryland on the road 38-7, lost 36-13 to Toledo, beat Ball State on the road 42-0 and beat Buffalo 34-0. Temple had five wins and was the cusp of bowl eligibility, but it dropped back-to-back road games 13-10 at Bowling Green and 35-31 at Ohio. The Owls bounced back and won their three final regular season games — 24-21 against Miami (Ohio), 42-14 against Army and 34-16 against Kent State.

Temple earned an invitation to play Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl. The Owls rolled to a 37-15 win over the Cowboys. Sophomore quarterback Chris Coyer, who earned the starting quarterback job midway through the season, earned offensive most valuable player honors after going 8-of-12 passing for 169 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for 71 yards on 12 carries. Linebacker Tahir Whitehead was named defensive most valuable player honors after recording a team-high 11 tackles and helping the Owls’ defense limit Wyoming to 267 yards total offense.

Temple scored its biggest win after the season ended. The Owls earned a coveted invitation to rejoin the Big East after being booted from the league for a variety of reasons. The Big East’s need to immediately fill a whole in its lineup helped Temple overcome objections from rival Villanova and take a big step forward.

Strengths: Coyer emerged as a strong leader of the offense and will look to build on his New Mexico Bowl MVP performance. Addazio has installed a run-heavy offense, but he Coyer should help him add more elements of the spread attack that will challenge opposing defenses. The team ranked No. 7 nationally in rushing offense last season with 256.54 yards per game. Reserve running back Matt Brown will get the opportunity to step into the starting lineup and carry a heavier rushing load. The defensive backs represent Temple’s strongest returning defensive position group. Safety Justin Gildea leads a strong and experienced secondary unit.

Weaknesses: Temple lost seven offensive starters and six defensive starters, including some key All-MAC performers who helped lead the program’s resurgence. It will be especially challenging to replace the power and experience on the offensive and defensive lines. Temple also relied heavily on starting running back Bernard Pierce, a three-time first team All-MAC honoree who ranked No. 6 nationally in rushing yards per game last season (123.42 yards per game).

Outlook: Temple posted three consecutive winning seasons from 2009-11 for the first time since the 1934, 1935 and 1936 seasons. The team will have to make a challenging transition to the Big East, but Addazio has more athletes in place capable of running his system and the Owls should be competitive.